I’ll be honest: I tried to go into this post-Baby Lasagna new edition of Dora keeping a level head, much like I did last year with UMK in Finland, hopeful that lightning might strike twice while keeping my expectations in check. I’ll open with the good first: I definitely appreciated the musical variety and the different sonic landscapes across all the entries, a sign that last year’s historic second pIace finish at ESC has reforged and strenghtened this national final. Now, the bad: I was honestly appalled at the overwhelming reliance on AI-generated imagery and (in one glaring case) lyrics from several acts who could have simply put together a basic lyric video instead or kept the song in Croatian.
In light of this, I will only be reviewing two tracks below. I do realize that the act with AI-generated lyrics is ostensibly one of the favorites to win…but we’ll cross that bridge when and if we get there. In any case, the two tracks discussed below just so happen to be my two favorite entries in this year’s line-up anyway, so we all win regardless.
If Croatia’s new strategy is to just send a hot man with a bop, I am 100% on board with it. Not that Monopol sounds anything like Rim Tim Tagi Dim: this is a dance track that essentially fuses a Balkan ballad vocal with folksy and EDM elements, delivered by a beautiful boy in a very polished and luxe package. The chanting in the chorus is incredibly infectious, the production slaps and does really stand out as rather intricate and bombastic, and there seems to enough budget here to put together a strong staging effort in Basel. I am getting influencer vibes from IVXN, so I’m especially excited to see how this is delivered live on stage – I can’t remember the last time we had a guy show up with a disaster bop, and at the very least IVXN will be serving looks (the pearl necklace in the music video did not go unnoticed). I don’t think this is really in contention to win ESC, but it should qualify rather comfortably, sustaining the momentum from 2024.
OK, the video is absolutely amazing and does some of the heavy lifting here (which is fine especially as a preview of what we might be getting on stage), but this also definitely falls in the category of a hot man with a bop. While perhaps slightly less accessible than Monopol, Južina has a stronger point of view – the nod to traditional sounds filtered through the lens of a modern, minimalistic production is even more pronounced, Luka’s slightly syncopated singing matches the quirkiness of the lyrics (this is a song about an ambiguous malaise and the hot winds causing it), and there is a very clear aesthetic both in terms of visuals and fashion that gives this whole package a really unique feel. If Croatia is feeling a bit adventurous this year, this would be a great option.
ESC Etc. 
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